This TikToker Posts Funny Skits To Help You Set Boundaries At Work

When TikTok creator Laura Whaley — aka @loewhaley, a 29-year-old who works in digital media — was stuck at home in British Columbia, Canada, during the beginning of the pandemic, she was in a work meeting that felt like it was going on forever. Then, a co-worker of hers committed the ultimate Zoom faux pas: asking questions just as the meeting was wrapping up.

As a result, she made a funny TikTok skit about it, portraying different reactions to the call dragging on. She didn’t expect her video to go viral, but when it did (it has more than 1.4 million views), she began making more videos about the workplace.

Whaley, who now has 3.7 million followers, has become a go-to resource for her audience when they’re struggling. In her series “How Do You Professionally Say…?” she offers advice about saying something appropriately to a co-worker or boss, like how to tell someone that you can’t take on their responsibilities. “I draw some inspiration from my time in my professional life, and I’ve seen quite a few different experiences and circumstances and different management styles within my own career,” she tells Elite Daily. But she emphasizes that her followers — who range from Gen Z to Gen X — should handle issues in their own way.

Below, Whaley shares her experience going viral, workplace “red flags” when it comes to boundaries, and tips for being a professional version of yourself.

Elite Daily: When you posted your first few videos on TikTok, what was the intention behind them? Were you trying to gain a following?

Laura Whaley: I had like no followers on TikTok, and I thought, “No one’s ever going to see these,” and then they just started to pop off and go viral. And that’s when I was like, “Oh, wait, hold up, this could actually be a thing.” So, there was no intention behind it.

People entering the workforce now are questioning why things are done a certain way, pushing back a little bit more, and holding companies more accountable.

ED: How did you feel when people commented that your videos strongly resonated with them?

LW: I noticed a lot of people were coming to my page and commenting things like “I thought I was alone in this” or “I thought I was the only one going through this.” And I saw this community starting to form at a time when a lot of people needed community. That was when I started to put intention behind the style of content and what people were resonating with.

ED: What are the types of videos that resonate most with your audience?

LW: Anything around boundary-setting. Historically, we haven’t seen a lot of boundaries being set in the workplace, and so watching a skit where it’s more of a sassy response, if you will, about boundary-setting is nice. It’s a little healing if you’ve ever been through something like that. It’s entertaining, but it also calls out different boundaries that can be set in the workplace. It’s this moment of taking back the power as an employee and not accepting something just because your manager or company says this is how you do it.

ED: Are there differences in work-life balance and boundary-setting between different generations?

LW: I think it’s more harmful than helpful to segregate by demographic. More recently, within working culture, I’m seeing more boundaries established, whether they’re set by Gen Z, just entering the workforce, or being set by someone who’s been in the workforce for 30 years. It’s more of a timeline shift than really this generation versus that generation.

ED: Do you think Gen Z is bringing that new trend of boundary-setting into play, though? Even if it’s not a generational thing, but just something new that is associated with Gen Z?

LW: People entering the workforce now, I think, have a better understanding of boundaries. Historically, it’s kind of just been like “Well, whatever my employer manager wants to meet, that's what I do.” And now people are questioning that and asking “Well, why would I have to work 60 hours a week when I’m hired for 40?”

People entering the workforce now are questioning why things are done a certain way, pushing back a little bit more, and holding companies more accountable, which I love.

ED: What do you think are some general workplace “red flags” when it comes to boundaries? Anything you hear from your audience on this or see on TikTok a lot?

LW: Everyone’s boundaries look very different. So what might be a red flag for me might not be a red flag for you within the workplace.

Some broad bucket ones would be the expectations of working evenings and weekends, high turnover, and any micromanaging tendencies are a huge red flag because that kind of kills my productivity.

You have to be mindful of vacation policies because I’ve seen a lot of shifting companies go into this unlimited [paid time off], which, in theory, sounds great, but it’s so dependent on your management and your team and the structure. I don’t like anything that’s implemented that is very reliant on managers and other leads and it’s not consistent across the board.

You can be friendly with your co-workers, but I don’t necessarily recommend making it the space in which you try to make friends.

ED: What are your thoughts on making healthy friendships at work?

LW: Friendships at work are a tricky territory. You can be friendly with your co-workers, but I don’t necessarily recommend making it the space in which you try to make friends. I would remove that goal from a workspace.

You can be really friendly with co-workers — you could build great working relationships and a lot of times you end up having longer-term relationships with co-workers and friendships that follow you outside of the workplace — but you have to be careful. At the end of the day, it’s a professional working environment, and when the lines get blurred between personal and professional, it can get tricky, especially if everyone’s expectations aren’t aligned.

ED: What if someone is required to go to social events, like cocktail hours, for work? How should they approach those situations?

LW: It’s all networking within your company, and you have to look at your professional career goals. If big growth within your career is a huge priority, expand your network because your network will get you further in your career. But if networking isn’t really important with this group of people, I think that there’s a respectful way to decline.

You mentioned cocktail socials — I try to stay away from anything where alcohol is the focal point when it comes to work.

ED: Do you think it’s better to keep social media profiles private and not friend co-workers when you’re new to a company or the workforce in general?

LW: I don’t think that there’s a blanket solution for that. It’s more individual and figuring out what you’re comfortable with, how much you want your co-workers to know about your personal life, and then making that decision on your own. It’s never really something that’s bothered me because I show up at work very similarly to how I am in my personal life. Make sure you’re comfortable with everyone from your life seeing your profile because, in my experience, people will eventually see it.

The argument that you have to hustle and grind for 50 years and then retire is what a lot of people are just not subscribing to anymore.

ED: How did you figure out these situations that you talk about on your TikTok?

LW: I remember when I was entering the workforce, I was like, “Well, tell me how to do things.” The danger with that is that when you enter the workplace, whoever you’re immediately working around is going to define your set of rules and boundaries in the workplace, instead of you coming to the table and being like “OK, what do I want within this structure? What do I feel comfortable with?” and implementing your own set of rules.

Because then you start to just adopt what other people say as truth. Then years down the road, you look back, and you’re like, “How have I become someone so different from who I actually am within the workplace?” It’s because you started to adopt all of the things that people told you you shouldn’t be or told you you should do and never actually showed up as yourself.

ED: With Gen Z caring less about hustle culture and more about work-life balance, what do you think the future of the workplace looks like?

LW: Hustling should be short-term to get you to a place where your work life is more sustainable and balanced. I think short-term hustle is productive, but the argument that you have to hustle and grind for 50 years and then retire is what a lot of people are just not subscribing to anymore because it’s not sustainable.

As someone who leads a team, I prioritize people; I want my team and I want my employees to be successful professionally and personally. I want a team that takes breaks, that has an identity outside of the workplace, because then when they show up to work, you get so much better output. So I think that we’re going to see a healthier workplace long term.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.